Dangers Live In Firefighters' Memories

May 11, 1989|By ROBERT GRAVES Staff Writer

Robert Griffin will never forget the blistering heat and impenetrable black smoke the October day in 1981 when he and many other Hampton firefighters rushed to Fort Monroe to battle a blaze that destroyed the Old Point Yacht Club piers and two buildings.

The burning creosote was in his nose, lungs and eyes and on his skin.

The difficult-to-handle fire created more than $4 million in damage, including the loss of four automobiles and seven boats.

Firefighter David Alston recalls with trepidation the time when he was slung from a fire engine and hit a tree after a terrifying flight through the air.

And firefighter J.W. Pereira has a bright memory of dodging sparks from downed electric wires while at a mobile home fire.

A house in Fox Hill was quickly destroyed by roaring flames as firefighter Kay Tacy and others watched helplessly because they had run out of water.

One of firefighter Betty Brown's strongest memories is of the time when she thought an accident victim would die because his throat was cut from ear to ear ... but he survived.

There are thousands of such stories in the city. Forgotten by many, they will stay imprinted for life in the minds of those who lived them.

"I was standing by the fire truck near the piers, but I couldn't see anything because of the thick smoke," Griffin says. "Afterwards, I was off for a week with creosote burns to my eyes. I had to wear bandages, then sunglasses for awhile, but my eyes are better now."

Griffin says he was supplying water to the men closer to the fire, but he never saw who they were because of the smoke.

"Boats were burning and breaking loose and floating away," he says. Three people who were trapped on the burning pier were able to escape by climbing aboard a research boat from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. There were no serious injuries, but 18 people were treated for minor smoke- and heat-related injuries.

In addition to Hampton and Fort Monroe fire units, the Norfolk Fire Department had men and equipment at the fire, including a telespout, a water nozzle on a ladder that can be raised high in the air so water can be directed downward.

Although Hampton Roads does not have fireboats, three Navy tugboats and three Coast Guard cutters directed firehoses on the blaze.

The rebuilding of the piers was completed in 1984 at a cost of $145,420, much below its value because the work was done by the 49th Engineer Battalion of Fort Eustis, says Wayne Kanoy of the Fort Monroe Public Affairs Office. The snack bar and the Navy pier were not replaced, he says.

Alston's mishap occurred last year when he was responding to what turned out to be a false alarm.

"It was my second day on the job," he says. "There was too much water in the pumper truck and it turned over on a curve at Todds Lane and Winchester Drive. I was riding on the back and the truck threw me like a slingshot into a tree. I hit it like a cartoon character does and slid down the trunk and landed on my stomach."

Alston is thankful he didn't land on his back, to which an air bottle was strapped. He was taken to the hospital but had only minor injuries.

"I was just badly shook up," he says. "I had to assess whether the job was worth it. But I figured lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place."

Alston still has a chilly feeling every time he rides through the curve where the accident happened.

Pereira remembers fighting a fire at a mobile home while a utility pole with loose wires hung over his head. A car had crashed into the trailer, and the firefighters had to determine if anyone was still trapped. Everyone had gotten out, but both car and trailer were destroyed.

"Sparks were shooting from the wires overhead, and we were all in danger of being hit by one of the wires," he says. "Fortunately no one was hurt."

Tacy recalls responding to a fully involved fire in a remote area of Fox Hill where there were no fire hydrants, and standing by in despair as the house burned down because there was not enough water to save it.

"When we ran out of water, I had to watch it burn," she says. "We had only 1,500 gallons, less than a 10-minute supply." By the time other trucks arrived with water, it was too late to save the home.

Brown says the nastiest ambulance run she remembers was in response to a car accident in which an injured man came close to death.

"The guy's head went through the windshield," she says. "His neck was cut from one ear to the other. He kept going in and out on us.

"We had to cut his clothes off to check for other injuries. There was a terrible amount of blood."

Brown says she and the other emergency medical technicians gave basic and advanced life support service to the injured man, then turned him over to doctors and nurses at the hosptal.

"They lost him twice at the hospital, once on the operating table, but they brought him back around and he survived," she says.